The exposure history of the Apollo 16 site: An assessment based on methane and hydrolysable carbon

Nineteen soils from eight stations at the Apollo 16 landing site have been analyzed for methane and hydrolysable carbon. These results, in conjunction with published data from photogeology, bulk chemistry, rare gases, primordial and cosmogenic radionuclides, and agglutinate abundances have been interpreted in terms of differing contributions from three components-North and South Ray Crater ejecta and Cayley Plains material

Аналіз чинників впливу на процеси функціонування керівної системи підприємств

Мета статті зводиться до вирішення завдання аналізу чинників впливу на керівну систему як регулятор діяльності підприємства та за допомогою використання метода теоретичного аналізу, синтезу та узагальнення розробки їх загальної класифікації.Цель статьи сводится к решению задания анализа факторов влияния на руководящую систему как регулятор деятельности предприятия и с помощью использования метода теоретического анализа, синтеза и обобщения разработки их общей классификации

Molecular signatures of dissolved organic matter in a tropical karst system

Karst areas are widespread landforms present on all continents, formed by the dissolution of carbonate or evaporite host rock. Little is known about the composition and nature of dissolved organic matter (DOM) as it moves through karst systems, although karst DOM has been recognized as important for a range of natural processes. Microbial communities living in karst systems are some of the most diverse and intriguing on the planet, and their metabolism and life cycle can give clues related to the development of a host of different life forms. Karst areas are also of interest due to their mostly subterranean hydrology, and the repercussions of these processes on local carbon cycles. We illustrate some of the processes acting on DOM in karst waters through the analysis of soil, drip and cave pool waters at the tropical site of Yok Balum Cave, in southern Belize. Water samples were analyzed using ultra-high resolution electrospray ionization Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (ESI-FT-ICR-MS), a technique that enables the resolution of single molecular formulae within a DOM spectrum. We perform multivariate statistics to detect trends in the data and identify provenance of detected molecular components. In addition to karst waters, four aliquots of a powdered stalagmite sample from the same cave system are analyzed. Our results show a clear gradient between the soil and the cave system. We hypothesize that both sorption on mineral surfaces and microbial reworking are responsible for the observed trend in DOM composition. The stalagmite extracts show an anomalous DOM pattern, which may be due to a variety of factors, including microbial activity on the stalagmite surface and different affinities of compounds to incorporation in the carbonate. The goal of this study was to follow the molecular transformations of DOM on its journey from the surface to the cave, and to provide a molecular basis for the establishment of stalagmite DOM proxies in karst systems

On the stratigraphic integrity of leaf-wax biomarkers in loess paleosols

Paleoenvironmental and paleoclimate reconstructions based on molecular proxies, such as those derived from leaf-wax biomarkers, in loess-paleosol sequences represent a promising line of investigation in Quaternary research. The main premise of such reconstructions is the synsedimentary deposition of biomarkers and dust, which has become a debated subject in recent years. This study uses two independent approaches to test the stratigraphic integrity of leaf-wax biomarkers: (i) long-chain n-alkanes and fatty acids are quantified in two sediment-depth profiles in glacial till on the Swiss Plateau, consisting of a Holocene topsoil and the underlying B and C horizons. Since glacial sediments are initially very poor in organic matter, significant amounts of leaf-wax biomarkers in the B and C horizons of those profiles would reflect postsedimentary root-derived or microbial contributions. (ii) Compound-specific radiocarbon measurements are conducted on n-alkanes and n-alkanoic (fatty) acids from several depth intervals in the loess section "Crvenka", Serbia, and the results are compared to independent estimates of sediment age. <br><br> We find extremely low concentrations of plant-wax n-alkanes and fatty acids in the B and C horizons below the topsoils in the sediment profiles. Moreover, compound-specific radiocarbon analysis yields plant-wax ¹⁴C ages that agree well with published luminescence ages and stratigraphy of the Serbian loess deposit. Both approaches confirm that postsedimentary, root-derived or microbial contributions are negligible in the two investigated systems. The good agreement between the ages of odd and even homologues also indicates that reworking and incorporation of fossil leaf waxes is not particularly relevant either

Diverse soil carbon dynamics expressed at the molecular level

The stability and potential vulnerability of soil organic matter (SOM) to global change remains incompletely understood due to the complex processes involved in its formation and turnover. Here we combine compound-specific radiocarbon analysis with fraction-specific and bulk-level radiocarbon measurements in order to further elucidate controls on SOM dynamics in a temperate and sub-alpine forested ecosystem. Radiocarbon contents of individual organic compounds isolated from the same soil interval generally exhibit greater variation than those among corresponding operationally-defined fractions. Notably, markedly older ages of long-chain plant leaf wax lipids (n-alkanoic acids) imply that they reflect a highly stable carbon pool. Furthermore, marked 14C variations among shorter- and longer-chain n-alkanoic acid homologues suggest that they track different SOM pools. Extremes in SOM dynamics thus manifest themselves within a single compound class. This exploratory study highlights the potential of compound-specific radiocarbon analysis for understanding SOM dynamics in ecosystems potentially vulnerable to global change

Quantitative trait loci for yield and grain plumpness relative to maturity in three populations of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) grown in a low rain-fall environment

Identifying yield and grain plumpness QTL that are independent of developmental variation or phenology is of paramount importance for developing widely adapted and stable varieties through the application of marker assisted selection. The current study was designed to dissect the genetic basis of yield performance and grain plumpness in southern Australia using three doubled haploid (DH) populations developed from crosses between adapted parents that are similar in maturity and overall plant development. Three interconnected genetic populations, Commander x Fleet (CF), Commander x WI4304 (CW), and Fleet x WI4304 (FW) developed from crossing of Australian elite barley genotypes, were used to map QTL controlling yield and grain plumpness. QTL for grain plumpness and yield were analysed using genetic linkage maps made of genotyping-by-sequencing markers and major phenology genes, and field trials at three drought prone environments for two growing seasons. Seventeen QTL were detected for grain plumpness. Eighteen yield QTL explaining from 1.2% to 25.0% of the phenotypic variation were found across populations and environments. Significant QTL x environment interaction was observed for all grain plumpness and yield QTL, except QPlum.FW-4H.1 and QYld.FW-2H.1. Unlike previous yield QTL studies in barley, none of the major developmental genes, including Ppd-H1, Vrn-H1, Vrn-H2 and Vrn-H3, that drive barley adaption significantly affected grain plumpness and yield here. Twenty-two QTL controlled yield or grain plumpness independently of known maturity QTL or genes. Adjustment for maturity effects through co-variance analysis had no major effect on these yield QTL indicating that they control yield per se.Bulti Tesso Obsa, Jason Eglinton, Stewart Coventry, Timothy March, Maxime Guillaume, Thanh Phuoc Le, Matthew Hayden, Peter Langridge, Delphine Fleur

Abrupt intrinsic and extrinsic responses of southwestern Iberian vegetation to millennial-scale variability over the past 28 ka

We present new high-resolution pollen records combined with palaeoceanographic proxies from the same samples in deep-sea cores SHAK06-5K and MD01-2444 on the southwestern Iberian Margin, documenting regional vegetation responses to orbital and millennial-scale climate changes over the last 28 ka. The chronology of these records is based on high-resolution radiocarbon dates of monospecific samples of the planktonic foraminifera Globigerina bulloides, measured from SHAK06-5K and MD01-2444 and aligned using an automated stratigraphical alignment method. Changes in temperate and steppe vegetation during Marine Isotope Stage 2 are closely coupled with sea surface temperature (SST) and global ice-volume changes. The peak expansion of thermophilous woodland between ~10.1 and 8.4 cal ka bp lags behind the boreal summer insolation maximum by ~2 ka, possibly arising from residual high-latitude ice-sheets into the Holocene. Rapid changes in pollen percentages are coeval with abrupt transitions in SSTs, precipitation and winter temperature at the onset and end of Heinrich Stadial 2, the ice-rafted debris event and end of Heinrich Stadial 1, and the onset of the Younger Dryas, suggesting extrinsically forced southwestern Iberian ecosystem changes by abrupt North Atlantic climate events. In contrast, the abrupt decline in thermophilous elements at ~7.8 cal ka bp indicates an intrinsically mediated abrupt vegetation response to the gradually declining boreal insolation, potentially resulting from the crossing of a seasonality of precipitation threshold

Compound-specific radiocarbon dating of the varved Holocene sedimentary record of Saanich Inlet, Canada

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2004. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Paleoceanography 19 (2004): PA2012, doi:10.1029/2003PA000927.The radiocarbon contents of various biomarkers extracted from the varve-counted sediments of Saanich Inlet, Canada, were determined to assess their applicability for dating purposes. Calibrated ages obtained from the marine planktonic archaeal biomarker crenarchaeol compared favorably with varve-count ages. The same conclusion could be drawn for a more general archaeal biomarker (GDGT-0), although this biomarker proved to be less reliable due to its less-specific origin. The results also lend support to earlier indications that marine crenarchaeota use dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) as their carbon source. The average reservoir age offset ΔR of 430 years, determined using the crenarchaeol radiocarbon ages, varied by ±110 years. This may be caused by natural variations in ocean-atmosphere mixing or upwelling at the NE Pacific coast but variability may also be due to an inconsistency in the marine calibration curve when used at sites with high reservoir ages.This work was supported by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) and NSF grants OCE-9907129 and OCE-0137005 (Eglinton)

Barley yield formation under abiotic stress depends on the interplay between flowering time genes and environmental cues

Abstract Since the dawn of agriculture, crop yield has always been impaired through abiotic stresses. In a field trial across five locations worldwide, we tested three abiotic stresses, nitrogen deficiency, drought and salinity, using HEB-YIELD, a selected subset of the wild barley nested association mapping population HEB-25. We show that barley flowering time genes Ppd-H1, Sdw1, Vrn-H1 and Vrn-H3 exert pleiotropic effects on plant development and grain yield. Under field conditions, these effects are strongly influenced by environmental cues like day length and temperature. For example, in Al-Karak, Jordan, the day length-sensitive wild barley allele of Ppd-H1 was associated with an increase of grain yield by up to 30% compared to the insensitive elite barley allele. The observed yield increase is accompanied by pleiotropic effects of Ppd-H1 resulting in shorter life cycle, extended grain filling period and increased grain size. Our study indicates that the adequate timing of plant development is crucial to maximize yield formation under harsh environmental conditions. We provide evidence that wild barley alleles, introgressed into elite barley cultivars, can be utilized to support grain yield formation. The presented knowledge may be transferred to related crop species like wheat and rice securing the rising global food demand for cereals